Pravda Means What?

Russian radical Boris Yeltsin must be gloating. Once ousted from the Politburo, he has become Moscow's favorite populist, a comeback politician who has won favor by bashing Communist Party regulars.

And now, in a more extraordinary move, the former Moscow Communist Party chief has made the official Soviet newspaper Pravda eat crow. Or at least its own words.

In an unprecedented atonement, Pravda has apologized to Yeltsin for a highly critical story that the newspaper now says was based on erroneous information that should have been checked out but wasn't. The story attacked Yeltsin for alleged drinking and shopping binges during a recent visit to this country.

After the account was published, Pravda and other Soviet newspapers were inundated by angry callers. Yeltsin, meanwhile, attacked the story as "slanderous." The resulting uproar was so great that the official Communist Party newspaper was forced to print a two-paragraph apology, albeit one buried at the bottom of page seven.

Still, keep in mind, we're talking about Russia. Not long ago the Communist Party would never have admitted making mistakes, much less apologize for them. So conceding a falsehood is a pretty noteworthy step for a party organ - especially one named Pravda, which is the Russian word for truth.